


A New Home

by Galactic_Enantiomers



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Pride and Prejudice (2005) but make it Reylo, also inspired by the final scene of Ladyhawke (1985)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23257585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galactic_Enantiomers/pseuds/Galactic_Enantiomers
Summary: “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there."- RumiA post-TROS story about how Rey processes her grief on Ajan Kloss and her eventual reunion with Ben from the point-of-view of her new friend, Jannah.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	A New Home

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by a BTS image from TROS posted recently by Naomi Ackie on her Instagram, which can be found here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B97pWfWAJ_K/
> 
> I also listened repeatedly to Samuel Kim's gorgeous take on Rey and Ben's love theme while writing the third part of this story if you wanted to listen along while reading :)

Jannah breaths in the crisp, cool air. A light breeze sweeps through the field before her, causing the tall grass to sway, transforming the sight into a shifting sea of green. Overhead, two birds with ruby feathers soar through the grey and soon disappear through the low-hanging clouds. In the distance, the sun of Eshla is beginning to peak out from behind the hills. The mist that hovers above the white bushes of blooms will soon evaporate and the earth will awaken. 

She chuckles to herself. For once, Lando’s stories hadn’t been exaggerated. This land truly is the embodiment of natural tranquility. Deciding to enjoy this brief moment of solace, she closes her eyes and just lets herself be.

A shuffling next to her breaks the reverie. She opens her eyes to find Rey determinedly treading through the thick brush. Curiosity winning over as it has from the start of this whole trip (or far before that if she is being honest), Jannah chooses to follow her. She still doesn’t precisely know why they are here in the Unknown Regions, but she intends on finding out before her departure. 

They have only been planetside for a couple of hours, but as soon as her feet touched the dirt, Rey seemed to be drawn toward some kind of beacon. Not knowing who or even what awaits them at this mysterious location, Jannah starts to regret not bringing her bowcaster that she had naively left behind on the Falcon. As they were exiting, she had noticed that Rey had forgotten her saber in the pilot’s seat. She had shot Rey an arched look from where she was packing her bundle. 

“I won’t need it,” was all she had supplied, with a light smile. 

But now, the closer they near their destination, the more her suspicion grows. She tries to shake it off, she’s been paranoid before, but she can’t help but be a bit daunted by the steadily increasing feeling of something momentous looming ahead.

Suddenly, Rey halts in her tracks. Jannah only has a moment to wonder at the action before she senses it. A sharp shift in the atmosphere. And somehow she knows that someone, unseen by their eyes, is fast approaching. 

* * * * * * * *

In the few weeks since the fall of the New Order, Jannah, Rey, and Rose had become thick as thieves. 

At first, Jannah had felt a poignant detachment from the group of rebels. The only person that she felt at ease to be around and talk with was Finn, him being her liberated trooper brother. Lando Calrissian frequently tried to spark a conversation with her, but despite her lifelong wish to be reunited with her family, she wasn’t quite ready to search across the stars for them just yet. Partially because of this disconnect and also because of the stifling layout of the rebel base, she often spent her days riding her orbak, Ke’li, around the jungle terrain of Ajan Kloss, taking in all of the colorful scenery and lifeforms she passed. 

It was on one of these gallops that she came across Rey. She almost trampled her down, having not distinguished her through the ferns, but thankfully, she had been dealing with a Jedi. Startled by the sudden noise, she had dive-rolled off the flat stone she had been seated on a millisecond before and sprung up, holding out one of those fascinating force weapons…a lightsaber, Jannah remembered it being called. 

Trying to calm her rapidly beating heart, Jannah managed to squeeze out, “Sorry…didn’t…spot you.”

“It’s ok. I should have sensed your approach sooner,” Rey brushed off. Recovered from the rush of adrenaline, she raised the saber in front of her with a sort of awe. “I think it’s finished.”

“What’s finished?” Jannah was about to ask when a piercing golden light emitted from the cylinder. Rey grinned and proceeded to practice a few thrusts and arcs while giggling happily. Jannah smirked down at the scene. 

“So is this where you’ve been hidden all this time? The others back at base have been worried. Well, Finn, at least, has been.”

Rey closed her eyes in self-admonishment. “Kriff. I meant to tell him this time. I needed someplace with no distractions.”

“You seem to run off a lot without telling anyone.” Jannah recalled the day they had met and how she had secretly stolen her skiff.

“I’m trying to change that,” she responded remorsefully. “And failing, I guess.” She was beginning to collect her things when Jannah was struck with an idea. It  
was out of her mouth before she had a chance to question the absurdity of it.

“Would it be alright if I held your weapon??” 

Rey paused in her folding and Jannah felt immediate shame. But Rey quickly soothed her. “Yes, but may I ask a favor in return?”

Jannah indicated she was listening. Rey continued, “Rose has been wanting to ask you if you would be open to letting her ride one of your steeds. She keeps putting it off though for some unknown reason, so I thought I would ask for her. Could she?”

Pleasantly surprised by such a simple request, Jannah replied, “Readily. Many of them have been getting skittish in their pen. Some exercise would do them good.” 

“Then it’s a deal,” Rey announced, extending the saber toward her.

They spent the next several hours going through multiple forms and stances that Rey was happy to share with her newfound pupil. And the following day was dedicated to Jannah teaching Rose how to properly ride an orbak. Rey watched from outside of the corral, content to observe her friend successfully bring her mount to a trot and eventually a canter.

And that was that.

The girls started doing everything together. Eating in the mess hall, working on damaged ships, training. They even shared the same quarters. Kaydel or the boys often joined them in their activities. Finn pretended to be annoyed by the constant camaraderie, but she knew he really was relieved that she had found her place in the Resistance as he had. For the first time in a long time, Jannah had a home.

As time passed and the friendship grew, Jannah began to discern that Rey carried a heavy melancholy about her. She hid it well though and sometimes Jannah wondered if she was just conjuring things that weren’t really there. But any doubts were quashed when she awoke one night to the sounds of Rey’s sobs. She looked over to see Rey curled in a ball on her bunk, facing the wall. Her chest tightened at the sight of her friend, one of the strongest warriors she knew, rendered to such a state. At that moment, still sniffling, Rey rolled over to lay on her back. She was clutching something in her arms, but the room had been too dark for Jannah to conclude what it was. Guessing that Rey would soon roll over in her direction, Jannah shut her eyes and tried to ignore the numerous questions crowding her mind to get some rest. 

Dawn broke and Jannah’s blurry vision eventually cleared to see that Rey was no longer in her bed. Concerned, she threw on her boots and set out to find her. On her return from her first failed sweep, she bumped into Poe who informed her that Rey had left on the Falcon before first light.

“So much for breaking the habit of keeping your friends out of the loop,” Jannah muttered under her breath, crossing her arms.

“She’s headed to Tatooine,” Poe filled in. “She didn’t give me details, but she told me she had to put something to rest there.”

Before she could respond, Lando emerged from a bunker they were standing near. “Jannah! Just the person I wanted to see!” 

He jogged over to them. “I just got done telling Finn the good news. We’ve sliced into the Order’s trooper records.”

A spark had ignited inside her chest. “You know where…”

“Not yet,” Lando interrupted. “It’s a bit more complex than that. But it makes finding them a hell of a lot easier.”

Jannah couldn’t help but beam. “Thank you.

Lando beamed back. “Of course. Nothing will make me happier than reuniting you kids with your families.”

“I’ll help in any way I can,” Jannah offered. “I’m not an expert in code, but I know the basics.”

And code was exactly what Jannah was scouring when Rey returned from her spontaneous trip. But from the moment she appeared on top of the lowered ramp, it was clear that her mission had not brought her the consolation she was desperately in need of. If anything, she was even more distressed, which in turn caused her to try and conceal it harder. But even the others started to see through the forced cheer and tired laughter. A fractured mask with cracks large enough that you could piece together the hollowness that lay just beneath. After the second consecutive day she left the mess hall without consuming a bite, Jannah and Rose, both consumed with worry, agreed that they needed to talk with her.

The next afternoon, they convinced Rey to join them in a swim under one of the stunning waterfalls that could be found throughout the jungle. They thought it would be best to try and approach her outside of the camp’s borders, where no one would accidentally walk in on their conversation. On their way to the watery haven, Jannah and Rose had joked together, probably to lighten the mood in preparation of the somber heart-to-heart that they anticipated lay ahead.

“Maybe you’re related to Finn. He could be your long lost brother,” Rose proposed giddily.

“No offense to Finn, but I think my brother would be a bit taller,” she quipped back. They laughed together at that.

“So have you and Lando found any leads yet? I heard he was looking into a family on Chandrila?” 

“Dead end. They lost a boy. And before you ask, no, we checked about Finn too.”

“Hmmm,” she pondered and glanced ahead to where Rey was scaling a particularly colossal aboveground root. “Can you please slow down! You’re already half a klick away.” 

Rey jumped down and turned to likely give a dry remark, when she froze. 

Rose and Jannah also halted reflexively and quickly scanned the area to see what had caused her reaction. Nothing.

Stock still, Rey continued to stare at a point to the left and slightly above Rose. It only could have been a few seconds, but back then it had felt like an eternity had passed before she leaned back against the tree, clutching her chest and choking. 

Jannah and Rose rushed over to discover that she wasn’t choking as they had thought, but was weeping. 

Through the hiccups, they could make out two words: “He’s alive.” 

Over the next week, Rey grew somewhat distant. She never explained what had happened in the clearing, but the effect it had on her was astounding. The gloom was replaced by twinkling pensiveness. Often in the middle of a conversation, Rose would ask Rey to repeat what she had just said, pulling her out of a daze. She would sincerely apologize to all of them and give her full attention for the remainder of the discussion. She finished tasks with breakneck speed, then dashed back to her room to bury her nose in one of her Jedi texts. No one knew what to make of the odd behavior. But on the night that Rose and her settled on another attempt to convince Rey to open up to them, they were intercepted by Finn before they reached their bunker.

“He’s found them,” he proclaimed ecstatically. He was practically vibrating with glee.

“Who found who?” Rose questioned, but Jannah had already begun to hyperventilate.

“Lando! He figured out the algorithm.” Perceiving what this information was doing to Jannah, he immediately calmed, stifling his bursting excitement for her sake. 

His voice lowered. “Are you ready?”

Getting her breathing under control, she nodded. They were led back to the control room, where Chewbacca and Lando were patiently waiting for them in front of a holotable. A blue image of her as a young girl was spread across the screen next to a long paragraph of High Galactic. And she knew that her whole life and background was detailed in that small file. Lando regarded both her and Finn with a warm smile. She returned it and tried to suppress her frantic fidgeting.

“They’re on Dantooine, in a small colony just north of the equator.” 

Jannah prided herself on the fact that she wasn’t a crier. But looking back, there was no way of knowing how many tears she shed that night. 

The following days were a bit of a blur. All of the ex-troopers that had remained with her on the base were scrambling to form plans and secure transportation that would get them the quickest to whichever planet they hailed from. Not the least among them were Finn and Jannah. With the knowledge of their precise location, any prior laxity on her part in regards to finding her family had dissolved and in its place was hyperactive eagerness. Knowing that she planned on returning, Lando offered her the Falcon. Normally she would have refused such a gesture of good faith, but it was by far the fastest ship they had and Jannah’s impatience ended up trumping her humility. 

Even though Rose was abysmally torn between the two, she decided (after making Jannah reassure her THREE times that she wouldn’t hate her forever) that she would go with Finn to his homeplanet of Tartossh. Unbeknownst to Rose, Jannah was indeed saddened by the decision, knowing that they likely would be separated for quite some time, but she was aware of the bond that Rose and Finn shared and the guilt of depriving him of her company would have overshadowed the entire trip. 

On the morning of the couple’s departure, the six of them: herself, Rey, Poe, Kaydel, Rose, and Finn all huddled together. Rose and Finn promised they would be back soon despite the others encouraging them to take all the time they needed. They exchanged emotional farewells, the most intense being shared between Rey and them. And then, Finn and Rose boarded and were off. 

After watching their transport slowly shrink to a dot, Jannah looked down and immediately noted the large knapsack that Rey had hoisted over her shoulder.

“I’m leaving as well,” she revealed softly.

“Where?”

“Eshla.”

That was not what she had been expecting. It was the uncharted planet that Lando had brought up several times throughout their acquaintance: illustrating in great detail the meadows filled with blossoms, one of every species and hue; the rolling hills that you could lazily spend a day away on, watching fluffy clouds whisk by you in the cerulean sky. But Jannah suspected that Rey wasn’t traveling there for the scenery.

“Why?”

Rey lightly shrugged. “Seems like the right place to be.”

Knowing that was the best answer she was going to receive, she let it drop. And hesitated for a prolonged beat before working up the courage to ask, “Are you coming back?” 

There was no reply. But Jannah already knew the answer even if Rey herself didn’t yet. Realizing she wasn’t ready to potentially say her final goodbye to her sister, she decided that her reunion could put off a little longer.

“Well, I’ll join you,” she declared, already prepared to argue her point.

As predicted, Rey dismissed it immediately with a wave of her hand. “I’ll be fine. I already told Finn and Rose that they shouldn’t delay their trip for me. Thank you though.”

“You don’t have to do this alone, Rey.”

“But I won’t be alone,” she responded in her cryptic way. Jannah smirked, excited at the prospect that she might finally meet the mystery man that meant so much to her friend. 

“While I definitely believe that, at least let me accompany you on the journey there. It also happens to be on the route I’ve picked to Dantooine, so it wouldn’t be putting me out in anyway. I’ll just continue on from there.”

Rey considered before eventually relenting. “Some company might be nice.” She looked secretly relieved.

“Then there you have it,” she concludes, her hands on her hips. “We’ll leave at dawn tomorrow.”

The Falcon broke atmo just as the first rays of sunlight fell over the camp.

The journey to Eshla was mostly a silent one. Jannah would often stumble across Rey seated in one of the cockpit’s seats, knees tucked in and staring out the viewport. Even outside of her perch, she frequently wore a faraway look that told Jannah her mind was elsewhere. Her invisible signature (Jannah had recently learned the term from Finn) was best described as a deep maroon, in a constant state of charged nerves. But Jannah knew that it wasn’t fear her friend was projecting, it was anticipation.

* * * * * * * *

Now, on the ground, as Jannah turns her head to check on her companion, she is surprised to find that Rey’s gaze is no longer clouded from inner rumination, but crystal clear and fixed straight ahead. She takes a tentative step forward before pausing. As she swivels back to face Jannah, her eyes shimmer with unfallen tears. Rey quickly closes the distance between them and grasps Jannah’s hands between her own. She squeezes them affectionately with a warm smile. Without needing her to say a word, Jannah knows this is her farewell. And in a rare gesture brought on by pure devotion, she sweeps Rey into a big hug. She returns it enthusiastically before slowly releasing her. With a final nod, Rey backs away and faces the horizon.

Then the mist parts. And there he was.

In front of her, Rey inhales sharply. 

A tall figure walks steadily toward them. He was still too far to clearly make out any features and yet, Jannah feels a sense of recognition that she can’t quite place. The man wears a loose-fitted grey tunic with long-sleeves, cinched at the waist with a belt. Just as plain, his trousers are of a deeper shade and tucked in his boots. On top of all of this lays a roughspun cloak, which billows out behind him, adding to the image of a lost shade, trying to find his way home. Perhaps he was.

Rey lets out of a broken sob and begins to race across the meadow. Hearing this, the man looks up and soon matches her pace. 

They are only feet apart when it strikes Jannah where she knows him from. But eyes that had once been red with rage and pain are now alight with overwhelming love and joy. The grimace is gone, replaced by a bright grin. Even his own signature is almost unrecognizable. This was no longer the man whom she had seen shrouded in black surrounded by creatures of darkness over a year ago. That monster, it appeared, was no more.

At last, the two meet amongst the blooms and the world holds its breath. They are clasping each other’s arms in such a way that no one would have a prayer of ever pulling them apart. For a few beats, they just gaze at each other. It’s as if they are ensuring themselves that the other is truly there with them, in this indescribable moment that has been dreamt of for so long. 

He lets out an airy laugh, breaking the silence. She quickly joins him in his mirth. Presently, she gathers him up in a close embrace and he enfolds her tightly in his arms as they continue to laugh in disbelief at this unimaginable gift they have been granted. Tears are streaming freely down his face as he lowers his cheek to rest it on her head. 

Jannah can only stand and view all of this in complete shock. Overcome by the intimacy, she feels her own eyes beginning to water. She doesn’t know most of the details behind what has led up to this, but watching them together, she finds that she doesn’t need to. Rey, at last, has found her belonging. And she is here to witness the sacred union.

All around her, the Force has adopted a soft, pale glow. The most at peace she has ever felt it.

The man proceeds to bend down, grasp Rey’s hips, and lift her into the air. She giggles in jubilation as he spins her around, letting her head fall back. Her hair had come loose in her sprint and it fans out from her as they twirl. Gradually, they slow down and the smiles slip from their faces. Rey’s hands slide up from his nape to grasp either side of his face. They breath each other in before she leans down and kisses him. 

The Force sparkles.

When they finally break apart, they touch their foreheads together, beaming brightly. 

Deciding she has intruded enough on this precious moment, Jannah turns around and begins the lengthy trek back to the Falcon. But as she walks away, she catches whispers of phrases that are floating along the current of the Force.

“You came back.”

“Sweetheart.” 

“You are my Light.”

“Never leave my side.”

And one that drowns out them all:

“I love you.”

Jannah smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed.


End file.
